(AFP Photo)
By Charlie Miller and Haleem El-Shaarani
On Saturday, funerals for the victims of Manial clashes took place in Salah El-Din mosque in Manial, Cairo.
Five Manial residents were shot dead on Friday after ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters fired live ammunition and bird shots at them, claimed residents.
Manial residents claimed they were trying to prevent Morsi supporters from reaching Tahrir Square.
Ahmed Abdel Moneim, a Manial resident, said that he was shot in his leg as he was trying to protect another man.
“We were trying to prevent a massacre from happening in Tahrir square,” claimed Ahmed Abdel Moneim.
Shattered glass and rocks were scattered on the ground by both Morsi supporters and residents of Manial.
30 people have been killed and over 1100 injured in nationwide clashes following a self-proclaimed ‘Day of Rejection’ called for by supporters of Morsi. Tensions flared between groups of supporters of the ousted president and the opposition across the country, with deaths reported in a number of Egyptian cities.
Following a heated speech at Rabaa Al-Adaweya by Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie thousands of supporters of the ousted president marched from the sit-in at Cairo University towards the State TV offices in Maspero. Clashes had already occurred between Morsi supporters and security forces outside the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo in which four people were reportedly killed.
Confrontations flared around 6.30pm between the two sides on the 6th October Bridge, with stones and molotov cocktails thrown and birdshot and fireworks fired from both sides. The conflict lasted over two hours and claimed the lives of three people, injuring almost 200. The military response came in the form of several armoured vehicles, topped with anti-Morsi protesters, who proceeded to force the pro-Morsi group down the bridge towards the Agouza off-ramp.
Groups of Morsi supporters returned to the sit-in at the University, where clashes with Manial residents continued late into the night on University Bridge and on the island of Manial. A total of six are confirmed killed, two of whom from the sit-in, the others are Manial residents. The collective cause of death, according to a source at the morgue, was from live fire and birdshot.
At the same time, a relative calm returned to the 6th October Bridge as the army told demonstrators to return to the square, with jubilant shouts of ‘the army and the people are one hand’ heard. A number of people were arrested after the clashes on suspicion of possession of illegal firearms.
Clashes in Alexandria Friday afternoon resulted in 12 fatalities and 200 injured, according to State media. Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown in the neighbourhood of Sidi Gaber, Central Security forces fought with pro-Morsi protesters in several pockets of violence lasting several hours.
The official death toll across the country continues to rise. Recent government reports show that violence in North Sinai has killed four, clashes in Ismailia have killed three, one person has died in Asyut and one in Suez.
In the volatile North Sinai region, violent exchanges of fire between security forces and unknown militants left a number dead, including a Coptic Priest earlier this afternoon. The Egyptian border with Gaza has been closed until further notice.
